Obama on Benghazi the hurricane: “We leave nobody behind”

posted at 10:07 pm on October 30, 2012 by Allahpundit

Via Breitbart. If President Romney had said something this oblivious with the cloud of Benghazi over his head, it’d be the lead story in political media for the next 24 hours. As it is, it’s “president comments on storm” soundbite filler for the evening news. Democratic membership has its advantages.

The president has a slight edge on terrorism and foreign policy, but the poll found that Mr. Romney may have made some inroads with his strong critique of how Mr. Obama managed the Libya crisis after the killing of the American ambassador and three others in Benghazi. When asked specifically about the administration’s handling of the attacks on the consulate in Libya, the poll found that only 38 percent of voters approved and 51 percent disapproved.

Second, why didn’t the United States send armed drones or other air assistance to Benghazi immediately? This one is harder to answer. The CIA did dispatch a quick-reaction force that night from Tripoli, with about eight people, but it had trouble at first reaching the compound. One of its members, Glen Doherty, died along with Woods when a mortar hit the roof of the annex about 4 a.m.

What more could have been done? A Joint Special Operations Command team was moved that night to Sigonella air base in Sicily, for quick deployment to Benghazi or any of the other U.S. facilities in danger that night across North Africa. Armed drones could also have been sent. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta summarized last Thursday the administration’s decision to opt for caution: “You don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on.”

Looking back, it may indeed have been wise not to bomb targets in Libya that night. Given the uproar in the Arab world, this might have been the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a burning fire. But the anguish of Woods’s father is understandable: His son’s life might have been saved by a more aggressive response. The Obama administration needs to level with the country about why it made its decisions.

Indeed, but if you focus too much on what they didn’t do that night, you risk forgetting what they didn’t do before then. They effectively left Chris Stevens behind the moment they denied him any real consulate security and stuck him with a skeleton crew of Libyan contractors. How is it, per Panetta, that we can’t send armed troops into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on but we could send an unarmed diplomat and his staff?

And Ignatius is apparently quite right that the drones they sent to the consulate during the attack weren’t armed. Fox News reported that earlier today. After you watch O here, I recommend reading this NYT piece about the next intervention looming for the U.S., a clean-up effort in Mali against jihadists who managed to establish a base there with the help of heavy weapons they looted from … Qaddafi’s arsenal in liberated Libya. Maybe we should start gaming out which African country will be destabilized by intervening in Mali next. Exit quotation: “I think Charles is a little too hard on Obama. Frankly, it’s huge progress that he didn’t blame this hurricane on a video.”

Breaking on Hot Air

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Obama is a phony actor that will do anything and say anything to save his place at the public feeding trough. He lets his ambassador and 3 other Americans die but jumps at the chance to fly around and glad hand with Christie. Despicable.

There are reports that Woods and Doherty were painting the mortar crew with a laser target designator. They would not do so unless the designator was already synched to an on-station weapons system. That means an armed drone or a gunship.

There are reports that Woods and Doherty were painting the mortar crew with a laser target designator. They would not do so unless the designator was already synched to an on-station weapons system. That means an armed drone or a gunship.

the man is not well,
what he did here is a tell as
horse traders know
“we do not leave people behind”
he knows what he did and can
no longer hide it from himself
comming apart at the seams
the lies have undone his mind

He can no longer maitain his inhuman actions, none of us are able to cross the line into the darkness he has crossed into and hold ourselves together. Uncontroled truth is just near the surface.
His handlers will have to rein him in or he will selfdestruct.

At first I thought it was just poor choice of words, but after watching the whole thing, I have to wonder. It seems like a deliberate attempt to repackage and ‘re-context’ (if you will) the patently false ‘we did everything we could to help’ Benghazi narrative.

As in, ‘if we keep repeating this statement in reference to events where it is slightly more believable, maybe people will believe it holds true across the board’

Good afternoon subjects. I mean, um, ah, my fellow Muslims. I mean, um, ah, my fellow Americans. I am hereby resigning from the office of your God, I mean, um, ah your Supreme Ruler. I mean the, um, ah, Presidency. [Be sure to scratch your nose with your middle finger]. Joe whats-his-name will take over for the next 2 and a half months. I will spend some of my remaining time on Earth trying to forgive myself for making Kenya, I mean, um, ah, Venezuela, I mean, um, ah, America worse off when I could have made, um, ah, America better off with the same effort and I will spend the rest of my life living in a hut with my half-brother whats-his-name in Kenya studying the Holy Qur’an. I mean, um, ah, studying golf, I mean, um, ah, studying horticulture. Allah willing. I mean, um, ah, God bless you. [Be sure to scratch your nose with your middle finger again]

So Obama is going to stop hurricanes now? Are we that stupid as citizens that we think that he can do anything to stop hurricanes from causing deaths?

I saw many photos of cars flooded and parked in UNDERGROUND parking lots…

it’s not like they didn’t have massive media hysterics and hyped warnings… how about we hop on the ol bus/train/plane/car/hovercraft/preferred levitation device and get on west inland to a safe location instead of staying in the path of the hurricane….

sorry, for the sound of mind & body, I have zero compassion when they do not remove themselves from harm’s way to the best of their ability (specific situations such as the guy who was in an apartment and a tree crushed him) are clearly outside of this general comment).

I don’t need some president to tell me that we are tough – like he would know… or that we will rise like a phoenix from the proverbial ashes. Leave them alone – let the red cross care for them and insurance companies pay out as agreed to – stay out of it… it ain’t your job to solve everyone’s problems…

AP, Ed, I lnow the excuse for autoplay ads is that you have a sole sourcer and they control the content. This is, IMO, a crappy excuse. When purely mobile users, such as myself, can’t access threads due to auto ads then let me tell ya, you might be winning the ad battle but you will lose the war in the form of reduced traffic. Think long term, please.

Has been discussed for several days, at least, on many of the military blogs. Presumably, the Seal (I believe it is thought to have been Doherty) would not expose himself to fire and further identify his own position by doing this from the roof of the building, unless he knew that there was an aerial asset (armed drone or AC-130 gunship) capable of using the targeting designation. It wouldn’t be done “on spec”, just hoping that some help might wander past.

GLDs (Guided/Ground Laser Designators) can only deploy when they are synced up with a weaponized aircraft or system and the GLD operator would’ve had to sync it up first, before triggering it. It’s what proves there was help in the zone and somebody refused it.

Oh and if they are part of his voting block… yes… have no fear, he will borrow/steal and plunder monies from those who dare have possession of such monies to meet their every need (after the government spends 90% of that money on other things and eventually 10% gets back to you!!!

The ads have gotten so bad that I have started hitting the mute button on my computer as soon as I come here. Of course, that means I won’t be able to listen to any videos I might want to hear, but could I really listen to them with an ad playing at the same time?

There is a school of thought in the world of advertising that says annoying ads are perfectly acceptable if they get you noticed. I refuse to reward such obnoxious behavior. Anybody who annoys me with their ads gets no business from me. Good, tasteful ads may take more thought to produce, but they’re the only ones that will get me to spend my money.

They apparently do withhold assistance when it’s repeatedly and urgently called for until it’s too late… and then bring the bodies home, stand over them, make empty expressions of grief, and do their best to use them for political capital.

No Mr. President, Navy Seals don’t leave anyone behind..you on the other hand..not so much..you betrayed those 2 americans who fought for hours to save 30 something people..and that is an impeachable offense

OT: Samaritan’s Purse has a ton of trucks full of building supplies and volunteers in Delaware just waiting for the go ahead to start helping people fix their homes. They have been asked to wait until the power lines are safe. Private donations, churches all working together, it’s an amazing thing to see.

They apparently do withhold assistance when it’s repeatedly and urgently called for until it’s too late… and then bring the bodies home, stand over them, make empty expressions of grief, and do their best to use them for political capital.

OT: Samaritan’s Purse has a ton of trucks full of building supplies and volunteers in Delaware just waiting for the go ahead to start helping people fix their homes. They have been asked to wait until the power lines are safe. Private donations, churches all working together, it’s an amazing thing to see.

What liberal group is doing anything like this? NONE, that’s who.

Night Owl on October 30, 2012 at 10:42 PM

But but according to Andrea Mitchell and the rest of the MSNBC hacks this is against the “guidelines”.

Beware, you will lure blink onto this thread and he will prove up your just blowing in the wind.
//sarc

APACHEWHOKNOWS on October 30, 2012 at 10:15 PM

I saw you talking about this before. If the former SEALS at the CIA Annex wanted to go help the Consulate and they were told not to go, that has nothing to do with whether there were drones or anything else available at the time. It is not just the equipment, people who volunteered to go help were told not to go. Why?